The Sport of Survival
by Mossberg
Summary: With many heavy weapons and an armored truck, two ex-soldiers plan on leaving Raccoon City. Their only obstacle is everything in it.
1. Prologue

_This is a writing style I don't usually write in. I decided to use it only because this story isn't meant to be personal, it is strictly supposed to be action. There's really no character growth here. I couldn't think up a decent reason for why the two main characters have such a high power arsenal, but its better there isn't much explanation. I would rather have them stay two mysterious warriors who's only purpose is to fight together under overwhelming odds. _

**-**                                                       **Prologue**                                                   **-**

Raccoon City was in a state of chaos. Its population had been overtaken by a horrible disease that would eventually claim everyone in the city. Those infected were transformed into zombies, devoid of anything but a rabid hunger. The disease had crept in slowly, but its rate skyrocketed as the virus got into highly populated areas. The city's water supply had possibly been infected. Virtually no one was safe was from infection or escape. All exits had been sealed and the city placed under quarantine.

The effort by the overwhelmed police force to stop the growing undead was a disaster. What was once more than three-fourths of the entire police department were killed, as the first and last battle against Raccoon City's former inhabitants left them tattered and torn in the streets. There was no order left, no protection to turn to. The few remaining survivors in the city of flesh eaters were dwindling fast. Only the acceptance of the new brutal reality, brute strength, and sheer willpower would save anyone. 

            There were those that still matched that description in the city. A woman by the name of Jill Valentine, for example. Her efforts paled in comparison though to those of two men who were not totally caught off guard by the epidemic that crashed Raccoon City. Both once serving in the same squad as Navy SEALS, they recognized the warning signs of a biological contamination. A strange new illness, reports of attacks on residents and many sick flocking to the hospitals, something seriously wrong and growing worse was apparent. But for reasons only clear to their own understanding, the two soldiers stayed in the city, stockpiled weapons, and lived off bottled water and canned food for the first three weeks of September, 1998. 

            Survival quickly became the only thing that mattered after the growing numbers of the undead overtook the city. It was a game to those that could make it out alive, the game of survival and escape. To two men raised on battle and little else, survival became the only life-affirming experience left. 

            Somehow accumulating an arsenal and armor to match as the warning signs grew, the two soldiers waited until the chaos of the city quickly ascended to its peak before venturing out. Their mission that they had subconsciously agreed to was to clear a path from the heart of the city to its edge and escape. That they were sure to die in the process did not disturb them. Death was only a result of circumstances.  

**It was time to leave.**


	2. 1

**Circa late September, 1998.**

**[**                                                       The Sport of Survival                                                   **]**

**1.**

Koch was attaching a large stainless revolver to the strap on his thigh.

"Something that heavy is gonna slow you down." Said Browning.

Koch looked up, eyeing the large bore handgun, with an attached scope of all things, that Browning was loading.

"Shoulder-holster." Browning said. Koch nodded and went about attaching the grenade launcher to his M4 rifle.

The apartment they were holed up in was safe for the moment. They had barricaded every possible entrance. The living room was a virtual armory, guns strewn about everywhere. Koch stepped into the bathroom and reached in the bathtub. He picked up a large polymer case that held his Barret M82. If placed down gently, it was heavy enough to crush a child.

"This may take two trips." Browning said, looking over the six sports bags.

"Three." Koch said. Each bag was heavy. They'd get bitten carrying two each down to the truck. Browning stood there in agreement. He didn't have to nod for Koch to notice.

Both men were wearing Level IV body armor, though they had taken out the ceramic plates. Those seemed useless against things that bit and scratched. They even had clear riot shields, which had been thrown out the window earlier right next to the armored truck. Each man was wearing elbow and kneepads along with Kevlar helmets and face shields. Not an inch of skin was showing, except around their eyes. One would have to stare them in the face with all that gear on to tell them apart, as they were the same height and build.

Koch heaved one bag onto his shoulder and swung it around so it hung on his back. He picked up his short-barreled Mossberg from the coffee table and made sure the cocking arm's sling was around his hand. Browning heaved one bag onto a shoulder and swung it around onto his back, un-holstering his STI Eagle. He kicked the cabinet blocking the door over some and shoved it away. Holding his breath, he opened the door. Koch stepped out the doorway, and the blasting began.

"Reload." Koch said as he popped a few shells into the shotgun's magazine tube. Browning pistol-whipped one zombie that lunged for Koch and stomped its head after it fell. The floor was littered with shredded and freshly dropped bodies as the two had decided to clear the ground floor for an easier trip back upstairs. This was now their third trip. Koch slowly walked up the stairs as he reloaded and Browning followed behind, shooting two zombies one by one as they wandered in the main doorway.

Browning reloaded and slung the third back on his back, picking up the M82 case as well. Koch picked up their final bag. Together they stepped out of the apartment and down the stairs again.

Outside, the armored truck was finally fully loaded. It had previously belonged to the Raccoon City Bank, but now it was under new ownership of the two-man team. As Koch stepped in through the back and into the driver seat, he noticed the roadblock up ahead. Browning noticed it also as he closed the backdoors and stepped up front.

"Can't ram it." Koch said.

"Go for it anyway." Browning replied.

The steel barricade twisted and flew apart as the truck broke through it, sending sparks over the windshield. Koch accelerated down the new street, plowing through several smaller cars. They were in the heart of the city, where just last night the RPD had made its final and catastrophic stand against the undead. The street they were on was about a block away from the RPD, which they guessed to be overrun by now. They approached another roadblock, this one seeming larger as it had a police car caught up in it. Koch pulled to a stop in front of it, eyeing the group of zombies slowly pouring in through the alleys around the truck.

Koch backed up the truck to the end of the street and put it in park.

"Get on the roof and clear a path for me with the RPK." Koch said.

Browning immediately went in the back and armed the desired weapon. He attached a 100-round drum to it and carried two more with him as he opened the back doors and climbed onto the roof. Koch un-strapped his stainless Colt Python and stepped out the back also, shutting the doors behind him and leaving them unlocked. Browning set up belly down on the roof, and held the stock of the machine gun firm against his shoulder. He aimed the iron sights at the growing mob directly down the street. Koch lowered his faceplate and then hit the side of the truck several times.

The first wave of the approaching mob was cut down by Browning's machine gun fire. He made sure to aim for their upper chest, mostly hitting them above the chest-plate or in the neck. Koch looked back to make sure none were approaching from the other end of the street.

"Go for it!" Browning yelled as the mob was now softened down to only a few standing remnants. He quickly switched to single-shot fire and picked these off.

Koch jogged forward, noticing a few zombies still squirming on the ground. He quickly climbed halfway up the barricade and holstered his revolver. He produced a block of C4 and attached a delayed charge to it, then laid flat and reached his arm down to place the explosive inside the center of the barricade. Suddenly Browning was firing again, and Koch could hear moaning from his left side. He quickly dropped the explosive and un-holstered his handgun, getting up.

"Reload!" Browning yelled, his rifle firing empty.

Too late, as Koch was now being faced with a new group pouring in through the alley next to the barricade. He took aim on the closest zombie's head and pulled the trigger, chunking it and the one behind it. Then he ran back to the truck as Browning finally finished reloading and sprayed the gathering mob in front of the barricade.

"Fire in the hole!" Koch yelled at Browning, and dove under the truck. Browning quickly let go of the machine gun, pulled down his face-plate, and held his arms over his head.

The barricade suddenly became a one-ton hand grenade as it exploded and showered the nearby zombies in shrapnel. They were torn to shreds as arms, legs, torsos, and heads were cut off. One zombie still stood with both its arms missing. Its head was hanging half-severed on one shoulder as it lumbered forward and then fell on its face.

Browning slowly raised his head, and a giant metal beam landed vertically onto the pavement, right in front of the truck. He didn't jump until the beam fell just to his right, barely missing him and the roof. "Shit…" He murmured, then heard Koch firing behind the truck.

"Got more of them coming!" Koch yelled as he took down only the closest approaching zombies pouring into the main street behind the truck.

"Start the truck!" Browning yelled back. He quickly held the RPK against his shoulder, and turned around on the roof of the truck. The new mob was even larger than the last, and they all let out a wail of moaning as they spotted the truck. Browning took aim and squeezed the trigger, plowing a straight line down the middle of the crowd. Specks of bone and cartilage flew into the air as they fell backwards, arms swinging upward. The moaning was drowned out by the thud of lead meeting dead flesh. Koch started the engine of the truck, and left the keys in the ignition. He removed the Mossberg, which he'd lodged in the door's handle, and headed to the back of the truck again.

Hearing the shotgun fire underneath him, Browning immediately hoisted the machine gun up and stood. He climbed and jumped down the side of the truck, sprinting to the driver side door. 

Koch closed and locked the back doors as the truck slowly moved forward,

"We're clear!" He yelled to the front seat.

 Then he fell forward right into the backdoors as Browning floored the gas. The truck took off straight through the ruined remnants of the barricade, and there were several thuds as the truck plowed into a fresh straggle of zombies.

"Did we just get a flat?" Koch said, stepping up front.

"No, body stuck under the front wheel."

**So far, so good.**


	3. 2

**Surrounded**

**2.**

"Jesus Christ!" Browning said as he swerved the truck, a giant figure having just run in front of it. 

            The truck almost hopped on two wheels as it hit the sidewalk on the opposite end of the street. The giant figure that had ran out in front suddenly stopped and looked back at the truck, only twenty feet away. Enraged, it lifted up the rocket launcher at its side and shot it at the truck. 

            "The fuck was that?!" Browning yelled, and he looked out the passenger side window just in time to see the flash of an incoming rocket. Before he could yell for Koch to get down, the truck was hit dead center. Koch was knocked unconscious as his head hit the metal railing along the ceiling. Everything was thrown in disarray in the back of the truck, and a large bulge was now visible within the holding area. The rocket had nearly pierced the armor.  

            The giant in the black trench coat gritted exposed teeth as it watched the truck flip over, and then turned and resumed its hunt elsewhere. 

Koch came to, the blackness slowly illuminating into the confines of the armored truck's canopy. Browning was sitting over him, slapping his cheeks.

            "Quit it."

            Browning smirked, then his face grew serious again. 

            "Its midnight, you've been out for almost four hours." He said. 

            Koch sat up, and his head immediately stung. He held a hand up to his forehead and found it bandaged. He felt a large swelling that started just under his right eyebrow and ran halfway up his forehead. Reaching into a vest pocket he took out a bottle of painkillers he always carried, even under normal conditions. 

            "The bulk of them passed by a couple hours ago. I managed to move some of our equipment to a building one block away while you were knocked out." Browning said.

            "You didn't jack a new vehicle?" 

            "Without this truck we aren't getting through the barricades."

            "The explosives-"

            "Every other street after this is blocked with steel. And every main street is suicide now. They're all over the place, we wouldn't make it three blocks on the main road." 

            Koch swallowed a few pills and put the bottle away. He looked up to the giant bulge protruding in from the interior's right side, which was now the ceiling. 

            "Somebody shot a RPG at us?"

            "Something did… we swerved cause it ran in front of the truck out of nowhere. Looked like a giant man, but its face was all fucked up. It was wearing black." Browning paused, then went on, "We're lucky the RPG didn't hit near the fuel line, we'd have gone up. Anyway…"

            "Anyway, lets go." Koch finished for him.

            They stood crouched, and Koch lit a cigarette. 

            "Forget it man, its only gonna make the hike harder."

            Koch just waved a hand as he turned and opened the back door. Browning shrugged,

"Give me one then."

Koch smirked and threw Browning the pack of Marlboros, then un-strapped his .357 and stepped out into the night air. 

            The building Browning had secured was actually a half-completed construction site. Koch just shook his head at it.

            "You set us up in the most vulnerable spot of the city." 

            "Hey, its out of the way."

            "Well let's just take what we need and move on. I don't even know why you bothered moving the stuff out of the truck. You probably went looking for that guy didn't you?"

            "What guy?" Browning asked. "Oh. Hey, you can't blame me for trying. Would of made a nice trophy for my living room."

            Koch picked up his M4 and loaded a 40mm grenade into the attached launcher. Somewhere close, he heard the sound of snapping wood. Browning turned to him, and pointed to the front side of the building. Koch turned to cover the back. 

            Staring at the open doorway that was supposed to be the ground level's back door, Koch trained his assault rifle on it. Whatever he'd heard didn't sound like a noise a zombie would make. Suddenly, he saw a shadow coming towards the doorway. It was the shadow of something short and stalky, but nimble. It moved with long arms that swung evenly at its sides, and it looked to have unusually long fingers. Whatever it was, it was going to come in any second. Then it stopped just beside the open doorway, behind less than an inch of wood. 

            Koch was sweating, which made the gash on his forehead pulse. He feared the thing outside might hear his heartbeat. He just remembered he'd forgotten his helmet back in the truck. 

            Suddenly the creature outside let out a high-pitched shriek. Koch shot right through the wooden wall on full automatic, and the shriek was cut short. He heard something fall down like a heavy sack of leather. Then there were more shrieks. There must have been an entire pack of them.

            "What the fuck did you do?!" Browning yelled.

            Now shadows were approaching the open doorway at full speed. Koch was already reloading a fresh magazine as he trained his eye on the doorway again. The hole-ridden wall suddenly burst into shards as one of the things broke through it. Koch didn't have time to swear as he held down the trigger and sprayed. He hit one of the things in its head and it kept coming. Suddenly there were three more of them. 

            ---They were reptilian, with faces like every monster Koch had ever imagined as a kid, and the bodies of a gorilla mixed with an alligator. Their claws alone looked to be five inches long and sharp as steel.---

            Quickly concentrating the rest of his fire on the first one he'd hit, Koch backed out of the room and yelled to Browning,

            "CHECK THE FLANKS, THEY'RE INSIDE!"

            "What?!" Browning yelled back, and just as he turned to face the doorway he was covering a green monster built like an orangutan came running inside. He immediately pumped two shots from the Mossberg into it. With a gurgled squeal it stopped in its tracks and slumped over backwards.

            Koch unhooked a flashbang from his vest and pulled the pin. But one was already in the room, and it jumped him before he could swing the M4 back up. The thing had him pinned to the ground under what must have been two hundred pounds of leather flesh. It screamed and held one humongous claw over his head, ready to split his face in two. Koch shoved the flashbang into its open maw and punched it in the face. The creature's eyes exploded as the stun grenade went off and blew everything clean out of its cranium. The soldier struggled to push the thing off of him, and already its two kin were in the room with him.

            Browning dropped every one of them that came through the doorway, and they were quickly piling up. The Mossberg clicked dry, and he let it fall to his side, and un-slung his FN P90. Two of the creatures suddenly burst through the thin wall in front of him. Browning immediately dropped them with a burst, and they fell screaming and pissing blood out of dozens of holes. Another came through the doorway and jumped through the air shrieking, holding out a razor-lined claw to chop Browning's neck. He instinctively ducked and let the sub-machine gun riddle its back with fire. 

            Koch held his sliced arm as he slumped against the wall. Three of the creatures lay dead on the floor, each in its own pool of blood. More were coming, he knew. He could hear them fighting to be first in the backdoor within the other room. Forcing himself to stand up, he doubled up against the doorway he was near and un-strapped the Colt Python he knew he should of used in the first place. The first one came into the room and Koch lined up its face with the sights of his handgun. It let out a scream as its head exploded and then another came into the room. He shot in the chest and it fell violently to the floor, painting the ground with spurts of blood. Then another, and a second came into the room, and Koch killing every one of them, but there were always more coming. He quickly ducked into the next room and went about reloading the six-shooter. 

            Browning held his stomach as he picked out a lodged claw that had gone right through his armor. He wished they had left the ceramic plates in now. "Damnit…" he cursed as another creature got in. 

            With a gurgling scream, the next one dropped. Koch retreated into the next room, and aimed at the doorway. Suddenly he touched backs with something. He and Browning spun around, handguns in each other's faces. Then came more screams and they turned back to face their respective doorways. 

"Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Browning said between gasping breaths.

"Here come more." Koch replied.

The gunfire continued. 

***

            Bandaged, fatigued, and nearly limping the two men walked down the alleyway leading out of the construction site building. The one on the left was holding a bleeding wound at his side. The one on the right was carrying an assault rifle slung over his back, and he had several slashes along his arms and sides. They walked down the deserted alleyway without much thought to their safety anymore, as they ignored the moans coming from the buildings beside them. It was early morning, but it resembled the twilight of dusk. 

            Nothing mattered after their final battle. They knew it had been their last, as they were both now infected with the disease that had destroyed Raccoon City. 

--- Not much time left… 


	4. 3

**Goodbyes**

**3.**

Koch slumped down as he reached the end of the alleyway. He was unbearably hungry, but not for the few rations he had in his vest. The process of turning over to the other side was already taking hold on him, he knew it. Soon he wouldn't be capable of thinking anymore, only hunger. Browning looked down at him and he knew Koch was through. 

            "You giving up?" He asked.

            "I don't have much choice."

            Browning sat down next to him. A zombie stood up in the distance and stumbled along the street toward them. 

            "That was probably the greatest moment of our lives." Browning said, cocking his handgun. "Would you have traded it to live out the rest of your days?"

            Koch stared at the oncoming zombie as it opened its mouth and black liquid spilled out. He leaned his head back against the wall.

            "Not really." 

            Browning shot the zombie in the head, watching as it looked surprised then fell to the pavement. Koch let out a short convulsive cough and looked down to a dead body beside him. It was someone that had died days ago, with flies buzzing around him. 

            "Too bad. Too, too bad." Browning said, not referring to anything particular. He slowly stood up, still holding the wound at his side. With a steady hand he aimed the barrel of his gun down at Koch's temple. 

            "I'll see ya around." He said solemnly.

            "You'll see me pretty soon." Koch replied, closing his eyes.

**The end.**


End file.
